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PRAYERS OF THE
SOCIAL AWAKENING
PRAYERS OF THE
SOCIAL AWAKENING
WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH
Author of Christianity and Social Crisis
S0066A
n
Copyright, igog and 1910
By The Phillips Publishing Company
Copyright, 1910
By Luther H. Cary
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
All rights reserved
Published November, 1910 '
i
TO
MY FRIENDS
AT ROCHESTER, WHOSE LOVE HAS
BEEN MY CHEER
CONTENTS
PREFACE
THE SOCIAL MEANING OF THE LORD'S
PRAYER
FOR MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT . .
Morning Prayers
Evening Prayers
Prayer for Sunday Morning .....
Prayer for Sunday Evening
Grace before Meat
PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING
For the Fatherhood of God
For this World
FOR SOCIAL GROUPS AND CLASSES. . .
For Children who Work
For the Children of the Street ....
For Women who Toil
For Workingmen
For Immigrants
For Employers
For Men in Business
For Kings and Magnates
For Discoverers and Inventors ....
For Artists and Musicians
For Judges
For Lawyers and Legislators ....
For Public Officers
For Doctors and Nurses
For Writers and Newspaper Men .
For Ministers
For Teachers
For all Mothers
15
25
27
32
37
38
39
43
45
47
49
51
53
55
57
59
61
63
65
67
69
71
73
75
77
79
8i
83
85
^^^
For all True Lovers 87
For the Idle 89
Morituri Te Salutant 91
PRAYERS OF WRATH 95
Against War 97
Against Alcoholism 99
Against the Servants of Mammon . loi
Against Impurity 103
THE PROGRESS OF HUMANITY .... 105
For the Kingdom of God 107
For Those who Come after Us . . . . 109
On the Harm we have Done . . . . iii
For the Prophets and Pioneers . . . 113
For Those without Knowledge . 115
For a Share in the Work of Redemption . 117
For the Church 119
For our City 121
For the Cooperative Commonwealth . . 124
The Author's Prayer 126
[8]
J^^MgQgH^
^^0^-^^^
PREFACE
HE new social purpose,
which has laid its mas-
terful grasp on modem
life and thought, is
enlarging and trans-
forming our whole con-
ception of the meaning
of Christianity. The
Bible and all past history speak a new and
living language. The life of men about us
stands out with an open-air color and
vividness which it never had in the dusky
solemnity of the older theological views
about humanity. All the older tasks of
church life have taken on a new significance,
and vastly larger tasks are emerging as from
the mists of a new morning.
Many ideas that used to seem fimda-
mental and satisfying seem strangely narrow
and trivial in this greater world of God.
Some of the old religious appeals have
utterly lost their power over us. But there
are others, imknown to our fathers, which
kindle religious passions of wonderful inten-
sity and purity. The wrongs and sufferings
of the people and the vision of a righteous
kS?^S«
and brotherly social life awaken an almost
painful compassion and longing, and these
feelings are more essentially Christian than
most of the fears and desires of religion in
the past. Social Christianity is adding to the
variety of religious experience, and is creating
a new type of Christian man who bears a
striking family likeness to Jesus of Galilee.
These new reUgious emotions ought to
find conscious and social expression. But
the Church, which has brought down so rich
an equipment from the past for the culture of
individual religion, is poverty-stricken in face
of this new need. The ordinary church
hymnal rarely contains more than two or
three hymns in which the triumphant chords
of the social hope are struck. Our liturgies
and devotional manuals offer very little that
is fit to enrich and purify the social thoughts
and feelings.
Even men who have absorbed the social
ideals are apt to move within the traditional
roimd in public prayer. The language of
prayer always clings to the antique for the
sake of dignity, and plain reference to
modem facts and contrivances jars the ear.
So we are inclined to follow the broad
[10]
avenues beaten by the feet of many genera-
tions when we approach God. We need to
blaze new paths to God for the feet of
modem men.
I offer this little book as an attempt in that
direction. So far as I know, it is the first of
its kind, and it is likely to meet the sort of
objections which every pioneering venture in
religion has to encounter. I realize keenly
the limitations which are inevitable when one
mind is to furnish a vehicle for the most
intimate spiritual thoughts of others. But
whenever a great movement stirs the deeper
passions of men, a common soul is bom, and
all who feel the throb of the new age have
such imity of thought and aim and feeling,
that the utterance of one man may in a meas-
ure be the voice of all. A number of the
prayers in this collection were published
month by month in the American Magazine.
The response to them showed that there is a
great craving for a religious expression of the
new social feeling.
If the moral demands of our higher social
thought could find adequate expression in
prayer, it would have a profound influence
on the social movement. Many good men
[11]
S
KM
have given up the habit of praying, partly
through philosophical doubt, partly because
they feel that it is useless or even harmful
to their spiritual nature. Prayer in the past,
like the hiss of escaping steam, has often
dissipated moral energy. But prayer before
battle is another thing. That has been the
greatest breeder of revolutionary heroism in
history. All our bravest desires stiffen into
fighting temper when they are affirmed
before God.
PubUc prayer, too, may carry farther than
we know. When men are in the presence of
God, the best that is in them has a breathing-
space. Then, if ever, we feel the vanity and
shamefulness of much that society calls proper
and necessary. If we had more prayer in
common on the sins of modem society,
there would be more social repentance and
less angry resistance to the demands of
justice and mercy.
And if the effect of our prayers goes beyond
our own personality; if there is a center of
the spiritual tmiverse in whom our spirits
join and have their being; and if the mys-
terious call of our souls somehow reaches
and moves God, so that our longings come
[ 12 ]
^^e^^
back from him in a wave of divine assent
which assures their ultimate fulfilment —
then it may mean more than any man
knows to set Christendom praying on our
social problems.
M
I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Momay
Williams, who has long been the president
of the New York Juvenile Asylum, for the
prayers *'For the Children of the Street,"
and "For Judges." A number of my friends
have aided this book more than I can say
by their advice and suggestions, and have
made it in a measure the work of a group.
I shall welcome suggestions from any one
which would improve or enrich this Httle
collection in some future edition.
Permission is gladly given to reprint single
prayers in newspapers, church programs,
and similar publications, provided no change
is made in the wording except by omission
or abbreviation. I should be glad if proper
acknowledgment were made in every case
so that the attention of others may be called
to this little book and its usefulness increased
WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH.
Rochester, N. Y.
[13]
i^^^^t^
INTRODUCTORY: THE SOCIAL MEAN-
ING OF THE LORD'S PRAYER
HE Lord's Prayer is
recognized as the purest
^^^^ expression of the mind
ll?^! "np^ ^^ ^^ Jesus. It crystallizes
f^^l •■■ his thoughts. It con-
veys the atmosphere of
his childUke trust in
the Father. It gives
proof of the transparent clearness and peace
of his soul.
It first took shape as a protest against the
wordy flattery with which men tried to
wheedle their gods. He demanded sim-
plicity and sincerity in all expressions of
religion, and offered this as an example of
the straightforwardness with which men
might deal with their Father. Hence the
brevity and conciseness of it:
"In praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles
do: for they think that they shall be heard for their
much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them:
for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of
before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye :
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
[IS]
m
3J
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors.
And bring us not into temptation, but deUver us
from the evil one."
Matthew 6 : 7-13- (American Revision.)
The Lord's Prayer is so familiar to us
that few have stopped to iinderstand it. The
general tragedy of misunderstanding wliich
has followed Jesus throughout the centuries
has frustrated the purpose of his model prayer
also. He gave it to stop vain repetitions, and
it has been turned into a contrivance for
incessant repetition.
The churches have employed it for their
ecclesiastical ritual. Yet it is not ecclesias-
tical. There is no hint in it of the Church,
the ministry, the doctrines of theology, or the
sacraments — though the Latin Vulgate has
turned the petition for the daily bread into
a prayer for the "super-substantial bread"
of the sacrament.
It has also been used for the devotions of
the personal religious life. It is, indeed,
profoimdly personal. But its deepest signifi-
[16
I«4
cance for the individual is revealed only
when he dedicates his personality to the
vaster purposes of the kingdom of God, and
approaches all his personal problems from
that point of view. Then he enters both
into the real meaning of the Lord's Prayer,
and into the spirit of the Lord himself.
The Lord*s Prayer is part of the heritage of
social Christianity which has been appro-
priated by men who have had little sjrmpa-
thy with its social spirit. It belongs to the
equipment of the soldiers of the kingdom of
God. I wish to claim it here as the great
charter of all social prayers.
When he bade us say, "Our Father,"
Jesus spoke from that consciousness of
human solidarity which was a matter of
course in all his thinking. He compels us
to clasp hands in spirit with all our brothers
and thus to approach the Father together.
This rules out all selfish isolation in reUgion.
Before God no man stands alone. Before
the All-seeing he is surrounded by the spirit-
ual throng of all to whom he stands related
near and far, all whom he loves or hates,
whom he serves or oppresses, whom he
wrongs or saves. We are one with our
[17]
ER
fellow-men in all our needs. We are one
in our sin and our salvation. To recognize
that oneness is the first step toward praying
the Lord's Prayer aright. That recognition
is also the foundation of social Christianity.
The three petitions with which the prayer
begins express the great desire which was
fimdamental in the heart and mind of Jesus :
" Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so
on earth." Together they express his yearn-
ing faith in the possibility of a reign of God
on earth in which his name shall be hallowed
and his will be done. They look forward
to the ultimate perfection of the common life
of humanity on this earth, and pray for the
divine revolution which is to bring that about.
There is no request here that we be saved
from earthliness and go to heaven which has
been the great object of churchly religion.
We pray here that heaven may be duplicated
on earth through the moral and spiritual
transformation of humanity, both in its per-
sonal imits and its corporate life. No form
of religion has ever interpreted this prayer
aright which did not have a loving under-
standing for the plain daily relations of men,
[i8]
and a living faith in their possible spiritual
nobility.
And no man has outgrown the crude sel-
fishness of religious immaturity who has not
followed Jesus in setting this desire for the
social salvation of mankind ahead of all per-
sonal desires. The desire for the Elingdom
of God precedes and outranks everything
else in religion, and forms the tacit presup-
position of all our wishes for ourselves. In
fact, no one has a clear right to ask for
bread for his body or strength for his soul,
unless he has identified his will with this
all-embracing purpose of God, and intends to
use the vitality of body and soul in the attain-
ment of that end.
With that imderstanding we can say that
the remaining petitions deal with personal
needs.
Among these the prayer for the daily bread
takes first place. Jesus was never as *'spirit-
ual" as some of his later followers. He
never forgot or belittled the elemental need
of men for bread. The fundamental place
which he gives to this petition is a recognition
of the economic basis of life.
But he lets us pray only for the bread that
[19
m
w
is needful, and for that only when it becomes
needful. The conception of what is needful
will expand as human life develops. But
this prayer can never be used to cover luxu-
ries that debilitate, nor accumulations of
property that can never be used but are sure
to curse the soul of the holder with the
diverse diseases of mammonism.
In this petition, too, Jesus compels us to
stand together. We have to ask in common
for our daily bread. We sit at the common
table in God's great house, and the supply
of each depends on the security of all. The
more society is sociaUzed, the clearer does
that fact become, and the more just and
humane its organization becomes, the more
will that recognition be at the bottom of all
our institutions. As we stand thus in com-
mon, looking up to God for our bread, every
one of us ought to feel the sin and shame of
it if he habitually takes more than his fair
share and leaves others hungry that he
may surfeit. It is inhuman, irreligious, and
indecent.
The remaining petitions deal with the
spiritual needs. Looking backward, we see
that our lives have been full of sin and
[20]
failure, and we realize the need of forgiveness.
Looking forward, we tremble at the tempta-
tions that await us and pray for deliverance
from evil.
In these prayers for the inner life, where
I the soul seems to confront God alone, we
should expect to find only individualistic
religion. But even here the social note
sounds clearly.
This prayer will not permit us to ask for
God's forgiveness without making us affirm
that we have forgiven our brothers and are
on a basis of brotherly love with all men:
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors." We shall have to be
socially right if we want to be religiously
right. Jesus will not suffer us to be pious
toward God and merciless toward men.
In the prayer, "Lead us not into tempta-
tion," we feel the human trembling of fear.
Experience has taught us our frailty. Every
man can see certain contingencies just a step
ahead of him and knows that his moral ca-
pacity for resistance would collapse hopelessly
if he were placed in these situations. There-
fore Jesus gives voice to our inarticulate plea,
to God not to bring us into such situations.
[21]
I
IL,
But such situations are created largely by
the social life about us. If the society ia
which we move is rank with sexual looseness,
or full of the suggestiveness and solicitations
of alcoholism; if our business life is such that
we have to lie and cheat and be cruel in order
to live and prosper; if our political organiza-
tion offers an ambitious man the alternative
of betra3dng the public good or of being
thwarted and crippled in all his efforts, then
the temptations are created in which men go
imder, and society frustrates the prayer we
utter to God. No church can interpret this
petition intelligently which closes its mind
to the debasing or invigorating influence of
the spiritual environment furnished by society.
No man can utter this petition without con-
scious or tmconscious hjrpocrisy who is help-
ing to create the temptations in which others
are sure to fall.
The words "Deliver us from the evil one"
have in them the ring of battle. They bring
to mind the incessant grapple between God
and the permanent and malignant powers of
evil in humanity. To the men of the first
century that meant Satan and his host of evil
spirits who ruled in the oppressive, extor-
[22]
tionate, and idolatrous powers of Rome.
Today the original spirit of that prayer will
probably be best understood by those who are
pitted against the terrible powers of organized
covetousness and institutionalized oppression.
Thus the Lord*s Prayer is the great prayer
of social Christianity. It is charged with
what we call " social consciousness." It
assumes the social solidarity of men as a
matter of course. It recognizes the social
basis of all moral and religious life even in
the most intimate personal relations to God.
It is not the property of those whose chief
religious aim is to pass through an evil world
in safety, leaving the world's evil unshaken.
Its dominating thought is the moral and
religious transformation of mankind in all its
social relations. It was left us by Jesus, the
great initiator of the Christian revolution;
and it is the rightful property of those who
follow his banner in the conquest of the
world.
23]
i
'%r
FOR MORNING, NOON, AND
NIGHT
MORNING PRAYERS
GOD, we thank thee for
the sweet refreshment
of sleep and for the glory
and vigor of the new day.
As we set our faces once
more toward our daily
work, we pray thee for
the strength sufficient
for our tasks. May Christ's spirit of duty and
service ennoble all we do. Uphold us by the
consciousness that our work is useful work
and a blessing to all. If there has been any-
thing in our work harmful to others and dis-
honorable to ourselves, reveal it to our inner
eye v/ith such clearness that we shall hate it
and put it away, though it be at a loss to our-
selves. When we work with others, help us
to regard them, not as servants to our will,
but as brothers equal to us in human dignity,
and equally worthy of their full reward. May
there be nothing in this day's work of which
we shall be ashamed when the sim has set,
nor in the eventide of our life when our task
is done and we go to our long home to meet
thy face.
[27l
ONCE more a new day lies before us,
our Father. As we go out among
men to do our work, touching the
hands and lives of our fellows, make us, we
pray thee, friends of all the world. Save us
from blighting the fresh flower of any heart
by the flare of sudden anger or secret hate.
May we not bruise the rightful self-respect
of any by contempt or malice. Help us to
cheer the suffering by our sympathy, to
freshen the drooping by our hopefulness, and
to strengthen in all the wholesome sense of
worth and the joy of life. Save us from the
1 deadly poison of class-pride. Grant that we
may look all men in the face with the eyes of
a brother. If any one needs us, make us
ready to yield our help ungrudgingly, imless
higher duties claim us, and may we rejoice
that we have it in us to be helpful to our
fellow-men.
n
GOD, we beseech thee to save us
this day from the distractions of
vanity and the false lure of inordi-
nate desires. Grant us the grace of a quiet
and humble mind, and may we learn of Jesus
to be meek and lowly of heart. May we not
>^r^^
m
join the throng of those who seek after things
that never satisfy and who draw others after
them in the fever of covetousness. Save
us from adding our influence to the drag of
temptation. If the fierce tide of greed beats
against the breakwaters of our soul, may
we rest at peace in thy higher contentment,
In the press of life may we pass from duty
to duty in tranquillity of heart and spread
thy quietness to all who come near.
"=:.';
i
g THOU great Companion of our souls,
i do thou go v/ith us today and com-
^^ fort us by the sense of thy presence
in the hours of spiritual isolation. Give us
a single eye for duty. Guide us by the voice
within. May we take heed of all the judg-
ments of men and gather patiently whatever
truth they hold, but teach us still to test
them by the words and the spirit of the
one who alone is our Master. May we
not be so wholly of one mind with the life
that now is that the world can fully approve
us, but may we speak the higher truth and
live the purer righteousness which thou hast
revealed to us. If men speak well of us,
may we not be puffed up; if they slight us,
[29]
may we not be cast down ; remembering the
words of our Master who bade us rejoice
when men speak evil against us and tremble
if all speak well, that so we may have evi-
dence that we are still soldiers of God.
i
o
GOD, we who are bound together
in the tender ties of love, pray thee
for a day of unclouded love. May
no passing irritation rob us of our joy in
one another. Forgive us if we have often
been keen to see the human failings, and
slow to feel the preciousness of those who
are still the dearest comfort of our life.
May there be no sharp words that wound
and scar, and no rift that m^ay grow into
► jlj estrangement. Suffer us not to grieve those
-^ whom thou hast sent to us as the sweet
ministers of love. May our eyes not be so
holden by selfishness that v/e know thine
angels only when they spread their wings to
return to thee.
O
LORD, we lift our hearts to thee in
the pure Ught of morning and pray
that they be kept clean of evil passion
by the power of forgiving love. If any slight
[30]
^m
or wrong still rankles in our souls, help
us to pluck it out and to be healed of thee.
Suffer us not to turn in anger on him who has
wronged us, seeking his hurt, lest we increase
the sorrows of the world and taint our own
souls with the poisoned sweetness of revenge.
Grant that by the insight of love we may
imderstand our brother in his wrong, and if
his soul is sick, to bear with him in pity and
to save him in the gentle spirit of our Master.
Make us determined to love even at cost to
our pride, that so we may be soldiers of thy
peace on earth.
I3il
LORD, we praise thee
for our sister, the
Night, who folds all the
tired folk of the earth
in her comfortable robe
of darkness and gives
them sleep. Release
now the strained limbs
of toil and smooth the brow of care. Grant
us the refreshing draught of forgetfulness that
we may rise in the morning with a smile on
our face. Comfort and ease those who toss
wakeful on a bed of pain, or whose aching
nerves crave sleep and find it not. Save
them from evil or despondent thoughts in the
long darkness, and teach them so to lean on
thy all-pervading life and love, that their souls
may grow tranquil and their bodies, too, may
rest. And now through thee we send Good
Night to all our brothers and sisters near and
far, and pray for peace upon all the earth.
OUR Father, as we turn to the comfort
of our rest, we remember those who
must wake that we may sleep. Bless
the guardians of peace who protect us against
l32j
t^^^^SS^^
men of evil will, the watchers who save us
from the terrors of fire, and all the many
who carry on through the hours of the night
the restless commerce of men on sea and
land. We thank thee for their faithfulness
and sense of duty. We pray for thy pardon
if our covetousness or luxury makes their
nightly toil necessary. Grant that we may
realize how dependent the safety of our loved
ones and the comforts of our life are on these
our brothers, that so we may think of them
with love and gratitude and help to make
their burden lighter.
ACCEPT the work of this day, O Lord,
as we lay it at thy feet. Thou
knowest its imperfections, and we
know. Of the brave purposes of the morning
only a few have foimd their fulfilment. We
bless thee that thou art no hard taskmaster,
watching grimly the stint of work we bring,
but the father and teacher of men who
rejoices with us as we learn to work. We
have naught to boast before thee, but
we do not fear thy face. Thou knowest
all things and thou art love. Accept every
right intention however brokenly fulfilled,
[33]
but grant that ere our life is done we maj
under thy ttiition become true master work-
men, who know the art of a just and valiant
life.
Master, as this day closes and
passes from our control, the sense
our shortcomings is quick within
us and we seek thy pardon. But since we
daily crave thy mercy on our weakness, help^
us now to show mercy to those who have
this day grieved or angered us and to forgive
them utterly. Suffer us not to cherish dark
thoughts of resentment or revenge. So fill
us with thy abounding love and peace that no
ill-will may be left in our hearts as we turn
to our rest. And if we remember that any
brother justly hath aught against us through
this day's work, fix in us this moment
the firm resolve to make good the wrong
and to win again the love of our brother.
Suffer us not to darken thy world by love-
lessness, but give us the power of the sons
I of God to bring in the reign of love among
men.
[34]
I
UR Father, we thank thee for all the
friendly folk who have come mto our
life this day, gladdening us by their
human kindness, and we send them now our
parting thoughts of love through thee. We
bless thee that we are set amidst this rich
brotherhood of kindred life with its mys-
terious power to quicken and uplift. Make
us eager to pay the due price for what we
get by putting forth our own life in whole-
some good will and by bearing cheerily the
troubles that go with all joys. Above all we
thank thee for those who share our higher
life, the comrades of our better self, in whose
companionship we break the mystic bread
of life and feel the glow of thy wonderful
presence. Into thy keeping we commit our
friends, and pray that we may never lose their
love by losing thee.
GOD, in whom is neither near nor
- far, through thee we yearn for those
\ who belong to us and who are not
here with us. We would fain be near them
to shield them from harm and to touch them
with the tenderness of love. We cast our
cares for them on thee in this evening hour,
[35]
m
^f^.
and pray thee to do better for them than we
could do. May no distance have power to
wean their hearts from us and no sloth of
ours cause us to lag behind the even pace of
growth. In due time restore them to us and
gladden our souls with their sweet sight.
We remember too the loved ones into whose
dear eyes we cannot look again. O God, in
whom are both the living and the dead, thou
art still their life and light as thou art ours.
Wherever they be, lay thy hand tenderly
upon them and grant that some day we may
meet again and hear once more their broken
words of love.
PRAYER FOR SUNDAY MORNING
GOD, we rejoice that
today no burden of
work will be upon us
and that our body and
soul are free to rest.
We thank thee that of
old this day was hal-
lowed by thee for all
who toil, and that from generation to genera-
tion the weary sons of men have foxmd it a
shelter and a breathing space. We pray for
thy peace on all our brothers and sisters who
are glad to cease from labor and to enjoy the
comfort of their home and the companionship
of those v/hom they love. Forbid that the
pressure of covetousness or thoughtless love
of pleasure rob any vvho are worn of their
divine right of rest. Grant us wisdom and
self-control that our pleasures may not be
follies, lest our leisure drain us more than
our work. Teach us that in the mystic unity
of our nature our body cannot rest imless our
soul has repose, that so we may walk this
day in thy presence in tranquillity of spirit,
taking each joy as thy gift, and on the morrow
return to our labor refreshed and content.
[37]
PRAYER FOR SUNDAY EVENING
LORD, we lift our soxils
to thee in the awe of
the eventide. Above
the tree-tops hang the
heavens in their glory,
but above the stars
art thou and the eternal
silence. We rejoice
that in the quiet of thy day of rest our spirits
have been attuned to the melodies of thy
beauty. We bless thee for every word of
solemn truth which has entered our hearts,
for every touch of loving hand that has com-
forted us, for every opportimity we have had
to speak some message from our heart to the
heart of our brothers. Forgive us if any hours
have been wasted on profitless things that
have brought us no satisfaction, or if we have
dragged our dusty cares into thy sacred day
and made the holy common. We pray for thy
blessing on all who have come near to us this
day, on all who have brought us strength, on
all who are sad and hungry for thee, on all thy
great humanity in its sin and beauty. May our
last waking thought be a benediction for our fel-
lows and in our sleep may we still be with thee.
[38]
^!^^
^^@@>%i^^J
GRACE BEFORE MEAT
UR Father, thou art the
final source of all our
comforts and to thee
we render thanks for
this food. But we also
remember in gratitude
the many men and
women whose labor was
necessary to produce it, and who gathered
it from the land and afar from the sea for
our sustenance. Grant that they too may
enjoy the fruit of their labor without want,
and may be bound up witjh us in a fellow-
ship of thankful hearts.
a
^GOD, we thank thee for the abun-
dance of our blessings, but we pray
that our plenty may not involve
want for others. Do thou satisfy the desire
of every child of thine. Grant that the
strength which we shall draw from this food
may be put forth again for the common good,
and that our life may return to humanity
a full equivalent in useful work for the
nourishment which we receive from the
common store.
'39
1
OUR Father, we thank thee for the food
of our body, and for the human love
which is the food of our hearts.
Bless our family circle, and make this meal
a sacrament of love to all who are gathered
at this table. But bless thou too that great
family of humanity of which we are but a Ut-
tle part. Give to all thy children their daily
bread, and let our family not enjoy its com-
forts in selfish isolation.
O
LORD, we pray for thy presence at
this meal. Hallow all our joys, and
if there is anything wanton or unholy
in them, open our eyes that we may see. If
we have ever gained our bread by injustice,
or eaten it in heartlessness, cleanse our life
and give us a spirit of humility and love, that
we may be worthy to sit at the common table
of humanity in the great house of our Father.
BEFORE A PARTING
GOD, as we break bread once more
before we part, we turn to thee
with the burden of our desires. Go
with him who leaves us and hold him safe.
May he feel that we shall not forget him
[40]
and that his place can never be filled till he
returns. Make this meal a sacrament of
human love to us, and may our hearts divine
the thoughts too tender to be spoken.
FOR
O
A FAMILY REUNION
LORD, our hearts are full of grati-
tude and praise, for after the long
days of separation thou hast brought
us together again to look into the dear faces
and read their love as of old. As the happy
memories of the years when we were young
together rise up to cheer us, may we feel
anew how closely our lives were wrought
into one another in their early making, and
what a treasure we have had in our home.
Whatever new friendships we may form,
grant that the old loves may abide to the
end and grow ever sweeter with the ripening
years.
FOR A GUEST
UR Father, we rejoice in the guest
Who sits at meat v/ith us, for our
food is the more welcome because
he shares it, and our home the dearer be-
cause it shelters him. Grant that in the
[4O
happy exchange of thought and affection we
may realize anew that all our gladness comes
from the simple fellowship of our human
kind, and that we are rich as long as we are
loved.
IN TIME OF TROUBLE
LORD, thou knowest that we are
t i sore stricken and heavy of heart.
We beseech thee to uphold us by
thy comfort. Thou wert the God of our
fathers, and in all these years thine arm has
never failed us, for our strength has ever
been as our days. May this food come to
us as an assurance of thy love and care and
a promise of thy sustenance and relief.
[42]
FOR THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
THOU great Father of
us all, we rejoice that
at last we know thee.
All our soul within us
is glad because we need
no longer cringe before
thee as slaves of holy-
fear, seeking to appease
thine anger by sacrifice and self-inflicted
pain, but may come like little children, trust-
ful and happy, to the God of love. Thou art
the only true father, and all the tender beauty
of our human loves is the reflected radiance
of thy loving kindness, like the moonlight
from the sunlight, and testifies to the eternal
passion that kindled it.
Grant us growth of spiritual vision, that
with the passing years we may enter into
the fulness of this our faith. Since thou
art our Father, may we not hide our sins
from thee, but overcome them by the stem
comfort of thy presence. By this knowl-
edge uphold us in our sorrov/s and make
us patient even amid the unsolved mysteries
of the years. Reveal to us the larger good-
ness and love that speak through the un-
[45]
^^^^rm^
bending laws of thy world. Through this
faith make us the willing equals of all thy i.
other children. r
As thou art ever pouring out thy life in sacri-
ficial father-love, may we accept the eternal
law of the cross and give ourselves to thee and
to all men. We praise thee for Jesus Christ,
whose life has revealed to us this faith and
law, and we rejoice that he has become the
first-bom among many brethren. Grant that
in us, too, the faith in thy fatherhood may
shine through all our life with such persuasive
beauty that some who still creep in the dusk
of fear may stand erect as free sons of God,
and that others who now through imbelief
are living as orphans in an empty world
may stretch out their hands to the great ;
Father of their spirits and find thee near. |
GOD, we thank thee
for this tmiverse, our
great home ; for its vast-
ness and its riches, and
for the manifoldness of
the life which teems
upon it and of which we
are part. We praise
thee for the arching sky and the blessed winds,
for the driving clouds and the constellations
on high. We praise thee for the salt sea and
the nmning water, for the everlasting hills, for
the trees, and for the grass under our feet.
We thank thee for oiu* senses by which we can
see the splendor of the morning, and hear the
jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath
of the springtime. Grant us, we pray thee,
a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty,
and save our souls from being so steeped in
care or so darkened by passion that we pass
heedless and unseeing when even the thorn-
bush by the wayside is aflame with the glory
of God.
Enlarge within us the sense of fellowship
with all the living things, our little brothers,
to whom thou hast given this earth as their
1 47
home in common with us. We remember
with shame that in the past we have exer-
cised the high dominion of man with ruthless
cruelty, so that the voice of the Earth, which
should have gone up to thee in song, has
been a groan of travail. May we realize that
they live, not for us alone, but for themselves
and for thee, and that they love the sweet-
ness of life even as we, and serve thee in
their place better than we in ours.
When our use of this world is over and we
make room for others, may we not leave any-
thing ravished by our greed or spoiled by our
ignorance, but may we hand on our common
heritage fairer and sweeter through our use
of it, undiminished in fertility and joy, that so
our bodies may retiun in peace to the great
mother who notuished them and our spirits
may round the circle of a perfect life in thee.
I48I
I
^
FOR SOCIAL GROUPS AND J
i
CLASSES j
i
3
E
1
i
At
n
[21
;
m
^£s?sil^S^isfi63^^^aSf<u^
^O'^
FOR CHILDREN WHO WORK
THOU great Father of
the weak, lay thy hand
tenderly on all the little
children on earth and
bless them. Bless our
own children, who are
life of our life, and who
have become the heart
of our heart. Bless every little child-friend
that has leaned against our knee and re-
freshed our soul by its smiling trustfulness.
Be good to all children who long in vain for
human love, or for flowers and wate^r, and
the sweet breast of Nature, But bless with
a sevenfold blessing the young lives whose
slender shoulders are already bowed be-
neath the yoke of toil, and whose glad
growth is being stunted forever. Suffer not
their little bodies to be utterly sapped, and
their minds to be given over to stupidity
and the vices of an empty soul. We have
all jointly deserved the millstone of thy wrath
for making these httle ones to stumble and
fall. Grant all employers of labor stout
hearts to refuse enrichment at such a price.
Grant to all the citizens and officers of
[51]
states which now pennit this wrong the
grace of holy anger. Help us to realize that
every child of our nation is in very truth
our child, a member of our great family. By
the Holy Child that nestled in Mary's bosom;
by the memories of our own childhood joys
and sorrows; by the sacred possibilities that
slumber in every child, we beseech thee to
save us from killing the sweetness of yoimg
life by the greed of gain.
5^^^
FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE STREET
HEAVENLY Father,
whose unveiled face the
angels of little children
do always behold, look
with love and pity, we
beseech thee, upon the
children of the streets.
Where men, in their
busy and careless lives, have made a high-
way, these children of thine have made a
home and a school, and are learning the bad
lessons of our selfishness and our folly. Save
them, and save us, O Lord. Save them from
ignorance and brutality, from the shameless-
ness of lust, the hardness of greed, and the
besotting of drink; and save us from the
greater guilt of those that offend thy little
ones, and from the hypocrisy of those that say
they see and see not, whose sin remaineth.
Make clear to those of older years the in-
alienable right of childhood to play, and give
to those who govern our cities the will and
ability to provide the places for play; make
clear to those who minister to the appetite
for recreation the guilt of them that lead
astray thy children; and make clear to us
[53]
all that the great school of life is not encom-
passed by walls and that its teachers are all
who influence their younger brethren by
companionship and example, whether for
good or evil, and that in that school all we
are teachers and as we teach are judged.
For all false teaching, for all hindering of
thy children, pardon us, O Lord, and suffer
the little children to come unto thee, for
Jesus' sake.
MORNAY WILLIAMS.
FOR WOMEN WHO TOIL
GOD, we pray thee for
our sisters who are leav-
ing the ancient shelter
of the home to earn
their wage in the fac-
tory and the store amid
the press of modem
life. Save them from
the strain of imr emitting toil that would imfit
them for the holy duties of home and mother-
hood which the future may lay upon them.
Give them grace to cherish imder the new sur-
roundings the old sweetness and gentleness
of womanhood, and in the rough mingling of
life to keep their hearts pure and their lives
untarnished. Save them from the terrors
of utter want. Teach them to stand loyally
by their sisters, that by imited action they
may better their common lot.
If it must be so that our women toil lijie
men, help us still to reverence in them the
mothers of the future. But make us deter-
mined to shield them from unequal burdens,
that the women of our nation be not drained
of strength and hope for the enrichment of a
few, lest our homes grow poor in the wifely
[55]
sweetness and motherly love which have been
the saving strength and glory of our country.
To such as yearn for the love and sovereign
freedom of their own home, grant in due
time the fulfilment of their sweet desires. By
Mary, the beloved, who bore the world's
redemption in her bosom; by the memory of
our own dear mothers who kissed our souls
awake ; by the little daughters who must soon
go out into that world which we are now fash-
ioning for others, we beseech thee that we
may deal aright by all women.
56
FOR WORKINGMEN
GOD, thou mightiest
worker of the iiniverse,
source of all strength
and author of all unity,
we pray thee for our
brothers, the industrial
workers of the nation.
As their work binds
them together in common toil and danger,
may their hearts be knit together in a strong
sense of their common interests and destiny.
Help them to realize that the injury of one
is the concern of all, and that the welfare of
all must be the aim of every one. If any of
them is tempted to sell the birthright of his
class for a mess of pottage for himself, give
him a wider outlook and a nobler sympathy
with his fellows. Teach them to keep step
in a steady onward march, and in their own
way to fulfil the law of Christ by bearing the
common burdens.
Grant the organizations of labor quiet
patience and prudence in all disputes, and
fairness to see the other side. Save them
from malice and bitterness. Save them from
the headlong folly which ruins a fair cause,
[57]
I
«
give them wisdom resolutely to put asi(
the two-edged sword of violence that turns
on those who seize it. Raise up for them
still more leaders of able mind and large
heart, and give them grace to follow the
wiser counsel.
When they strive for leisure and health
and a better wage, do thou grant their cause
success, but teach them not to waste their
gain on fleeting passions, but to use it in
building fairer homes and a nobler manhood.
Grant all classes of our nation a larger com-
prehension for the aspirations of labor and
for the courage and worth of these our
brothers, that we may cheer them in their
struggles and imderstand them even in their
sins. And may the upward climb of Labor,
its defeats and its victories, in the farther
reaches bless all classes of our nation, and
build up for the republic of the future a great
body of workers, strong of limb, clear of
mind, fair in temper, glad to labor, conscious
of their worth, and striving together for the
final brotherhood of all men.
58
FOR IMMIGRANTS
THOU great Cham-
pion of the outcast
and the weak, we
remember before thee
the people of other
nations who are com-
ing to our land, seek-
ing bread, a home,
and a future. May we look with thy com-
passion upon those who have been drained
and stunted by the poverty and oppression
of centuries, and whose minds have been
warped by superstition or seared by the
dumb agony of revolt. We bless thee for
all that America has meant to the alien
folk that have crossed the sea in the past,
and for all the patient strength and God-
fearing courage with which they have en-
riched our nation. We rejoice in the millions
whose life has expanded in the wealth and
liberty of our coimtry, and whose children
have grown to fairer stature and larger
thoughts; for we, too, are the children of
immigrants, who came with anxious hearts
and halting feet on the westward path of
hope.
[59]
wm
J
m
We beseech thee that our republic may
no longer fail their trust. We mourn for
the dark sins of past and present, wherein
men who are held in honor among us made
spoil of the ignorance and helplessness of
the strangers and sent them to an early
death. In a nation dedicated to liberty
may they not find the old oppression and a
fiercer greed. May they never find that the
arm of the law is but the arm of the strong.
Help our whole people henceforth to keep
in leash the cimning that would devour the
simple. May they feel here the pure air
of freedom and face the morning radiance
of a joyous hope.
For all the oppressed afar off who sigh
for liberty; for all lovers of the people who
strive to break their shackles; for all who
dare to believe in democracy and the King-
dom of God, make thou our great common-
wealth once more a sure beacon-light of hcpe
and a guide on the path which leads to the
perfect union of law and hberty.
60
^SB
M
FOR EMPLOYERS
E invoke thy grace
and wisdom, O Lord,
upon all men of good
will who employ and
control the labor of
men. Amid the num-
berless irritations and
anxieties of their posi-
tion, help them to keep a quiet and patient
temper, and to rule firmly and wisely, without
harshness and anger. Since they hold power
over the bread, the safety, and the hopes
of the workers, may they wield their powers
justly and with love, as older brothers and
leaders in the great fellowship of labor.
Suffer not the heavenly light of compassion
for the weak and the old to be quenched in
their hearts. When they are tempted to
follow the ruthless ways of others, and to
sacrifice human health and life for profit,
do thou strengthen their will in the hour of
need, and bring to naught the counsels of the
heartless. Save them from repressing their
workers into sullen submission and helpless
fear. May they not sin against the Christ
by using the bodies and souls of men as
[6i]
^^S^15
make things, forgetting the
and longings of these their
mere tools to
human hearts
brothers.
Raise up among us employers who shall
be makers of men as well as of goods. Give
us masters of industry who will use their
higher ability and knowledge in lifting the
workers to increasing independence and
vigor, and who will train their helpers for
the larger responsibilities of the coming age.
Give us men of faith who will see beyond
the strife of the present and catch a vision
of a nobler organization of our work, when
all will still follow the leadership of the
ablest, not in fear but by the glad will of
all, and when none shall be master and
none shall be man, but all shall stand side
by side in a strong and righteous brother-
hood of work.
Ji
t
thee, t
BUSINESS
E plead with
O God, for our broth- i
ers who are pressed by !
the cares and beset by \
the temptations of busi- j
ness life. We acknowl- |
edge before thee our |
common guilt for the
hardness and deceitfulness of industry and
trade which lead us all into temptation and
cause even the righteous to slip and fall. As
long as man is set against man in a struggle I
for wealth, help the men in business to make
their contest, as far as may be, a test of excel-
lence, by which even the defeated may be
spurred to better work. If any man is pitted
against those who have forgotten fairness
and honesty, help him to put his trust reso-
lutely in the profitableness of sincerity and
uprightness, and, if need be, to accept loss
rather than follow on crooked paths.
Establish in unshaken fidelity all who
hold in trust the savings of others. Since
the wealth and welfare of our nation are
controlled by our business men, cause them
to realize that they serve not themselves
63
Ai
alone, but hold high public functions, and do
thou save them from betraying the inter-
ests of the many for their own enrichment,
lest a new tyranny grow up in a land that
is dedicated to freedom. Grant them far-
sighted patriotism to subordinate their profits
to the public weal, and a steadfast determina-
tion to transform the disorder of the present
into the nobler and freer harmony of the
future. May thy Spirit, O God, which is
ceaselessly pleading within us, prevail at
last to bring our business life under Christ's
law of service, so that all who share in the
processes of factory and trade may grow up
into that high consciousness of a divine
calling which blesses those who are the
free servants of God and the people and
who consciously devote their strength to
the common good.
HI
(64
MAGNATES
GOD, we worship thee
as the sole lord and
sovereign of humanity,
and render free obedi-
ence to thee because
thy laws are just and
thy will is love. We
pray thee for the kings
and princes of the nations to whom power
has descended from the past, and for the
lords of industry and trade in whose hands
the wealth and power of our modem world
have gathered. We beseech thee to save
them from the terrible temptations of their
position, lest they follow in the somber
lineage of those v/ho have lorded it in the
past and have used the people^s powers
for their oppression. Suffer them not to
waste the labor of the many for their own
luxury, or to use the precious life-blood of
men for the corruption of all. Open their
hearts to the saving spirit of the new age
of freedom. Mature in their souls the
1
And when the people seek the ampler
freedom and self-direction of manhood, may
there be no blindness to the higher will and
no hardening of heart by those who have
ruled. Grant them wisdom so large-hearted
that they may recognize the culmination of
their task in yielding up their powers, and
may use their gathered knowledge in guiding
the liberation of the people in order and
stability. Save them from the fear and hate
which are the tyrants' portion and from the
scorn of coming generations. Reveal to them
that all the higher joys come only by impart-
ing the strength of our life to those who
need it, and that a man's life consisteth
not in the things which he possesses, but
in the love that flows out from him and
flows back to him.
66
FOR
DISCOVERERS
E
^ri^
if
AND INVENTORS
praise thee, O
Lord, for that mys-
terious spark of thy
light within us, the
intellect of man, for
thou hast kindled it in
the beginning and by
the breath of thy spirit
it has grown to flaming power in our
race.
We rejoice in the men of genius and
intellectual vision who discern the undis-
covered applications of thy laws and dig
the deeper springs through which the hidden
forces of thy world may well up to the light
of day. We claim them as our own in thee,
as members with us in the common body
of humanity, of which thou art the all-per-
vading life and inspirer. Grant them, we
pray thee, the divine humility of thine elect
souls, to realize that they are sent of thee
as brothers and helpers of men and that the
powers within them are but part of the vast
equipment of humanity, entrusted to them
for the common use. May they bow to the
law of Christ and live, not to be served, but
[67]
to give their abilities for the emancipation
of the higher life of man. Save them from
turning thy revelations into means of extor-
tion and from checking the toilsome march
of humanity till they take toll.
But to us Vvho benefit by their work do
thou grant wisdom and justice that we may
not suffer the fruit of their toil to be wrested
from them by selfish cunning or the pressure
of need, but may assure them of their fair
reward and of the meed of love and honor
that is the due of those who have served
humanity well. Gladden us by the glowing
consciousness of the one life that thinks and
strives in us all, and knit us together into a
commonwealth of brothers in which each
shall be heir of all things and the free ser-
vant of all men.
i
68
FOR ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS
THOU who art the
all-pervading glory of
the world, we bless
thee for the power of
beauty to gladden our
hearts. We praise thee
that even the least of
us may feel a thrill of
thy creative joy when we give form and
substance to our thoughts and, beholding
our handiwork, find it good and fair.
We praise thee for our brothers, the
masters of form and color and sound, who
have power to unlock for us the vaster
spaces of emotion and to lead us by their
hand into the reaches of nobler passions.
We rejoice in their gifts and pray thee to
save them from the temptations which beset
their powers. Save them from the discour-
agements of a selfish ambition and from the
vanity that feeds on cheap applause, from
the snare of the senses and from the dark
phantoms that haunt the listening soul.
Let them not satisfy their hunger for
beauty with tricks of skill, turning the art
of God into a petty craft of men. Teach
69]
IP?:»^fi
^4^^==*
them that they, too, are but servants of
humanity, and that the promise of their gifts
can fulfil itself only in the service of love.
Give them faith in the inspiring power of a
great purpose and courage to follow to the
end the visions of their youth. Kindle in
their hearts a passionate pity for the joyless
lives of the people, and make them rejoice
if they are foimd worthy to hold the cup of
beauty to lips that are athirst. Make them
the reverent interpreters of God to man,
who see thy face and hear thy voice in all
things, that so they may unveil for us the
beauties of nature which we have passed
unseeing, and the sadness and sweetness
of humanity to which our selfishness has
made us blind.
(70
^
^^
FOR JUDGES
GOD, who art the
author and giver of law,
from whom alone all
just designs and right-
eous judgments pro-
ceed, give unto all
those who frame, in-
terpret, or administer
human law the coimsel of thy Holy Spirit,
that they may know themselves thy min-
isters. Remove from them all pride and
vainglory of class, all prejudice of birth and
training, all narrowness of place and power,
and grant them to know that only in loving
sympathy with all their fellow-men is there
the possibility of clear understanding and
righteous decision. Enable them so to
receive the precepts and examples of the
past that they build upon the heritage of
the fathers a just and adequate edifice of
law for the present.
As they deduce the principles which under-
lie fjie customary laws of men, give unto
them the larger vision of the reign of law
and the ordered universe, of the precedents
of nature and providence, and suffer them
'71]
not to forget or to be ignorant of those in-
evitable laws of thine which outlive the
lives of men. O Thou who hast given to
man the will to conquer the earth, the
power to serve his fellows and the heart
to love thee, may the rule of the market-place
never be suffered to obscure thine eternal
justice, but grant to all these the ministers
of human justice the will and ability to pacify
the passions and adjust the disputes of men.
Suffer them neither to be swayed by the
prejudices nor to appeal to the weaknesses
of others, but to deal fairly, counsel wisely,
and quit themselves manfully in all matters;
to be the servants of all men, but the hire-
lings of none, and so to hasten the coming
of the Kingdom of God on earth, for which
we pray.
MORNAY WILLIAMS.
[73]
3^PQS|gp^
FOR LAWYERS AND LEGISLATORS
LORD, thou art the
eternal order of the
universe. Our human
laws at best are but
an approximalicn to
thine immutable law,
and if our institutions
are to stand, they must
rest on justice, for only justice can endure.
We beseech thee for the men who are set to
make and interpret the laws of our nation.
Grant to all lawyers a deep consciousness
that they are called of God to see justice
done, and that they prostitute a holy duty
if ever they connive in its defeat. Fill
them with a high determination to make
the courts of our land a strong fortress of
defense for the poor and weak, and never
a castle of oppression for the hard and cun-
ning. I
Save them from surrendering the dear-
bought safeguards of the people for which
our fathers fought and suffered. Revive in
them the spirit of the great liberators of
the past that they may cleanse our law of
the inherited wrongs that still cling to it.
'73]
^x3v^
Siiffer not the web of outgrown precedents
to veil their moral vision, but grant them
a penetrating eye for the rights and wrongs
of today and a quick human sympathy
with the life and sufferings of the people.
May they not perpetuate the tangles of the
law for the profit of their profession. Aid
them to make its course so simple, and its
justice so swift and sure, that the humblest
may safely trust it and the strongest fear it.
Grant them wisdom so to refashion all law
that it may become the true expression of
the fairer ideals of freedom and brother-
hood which are now seeking their incarnation
in a new age. Make these our brothers the
wise interpreters of thine eternal law, the
brave spokesmen of thy will, and in reward
bestow upon them the joy of conscious
fellowship with thy Christ in saving men
from the bondage of ancient wrong.
a^AmS^SS^
FOR PUBLIC OFFICERS
GOD, thou great gov-
I J^fe^^jKr^^^QTiff I ^^^0^ 0^ ^^^ ^^6 world,
I [L R l^^^^^^ ' we pray thee for all
luAu O ^^° ^°^^ public office
I ^TA____ft^^ I ^^^ power, for the life,
I |?>Jg[^S^3^li I *^^ welfare, and the
I Rv^J^^^^^ ^ virtue of the people are
L^Mw« ^ ^^^^ hands to make
or to mar. We remember with shame that
in the past the mighty have preyed on the
labors of the poor ; that they have laid nations
in the dust by their oppression, and have
thwarted the love and the prayers of thy
servants. We bless thee that the new spirit
of democracy has touched even the kings of
the earth. We rejoice that by the free insti-
tutions of our country the tyrannous instincts
of the strong may be curbed and turned to
the patient service of the commonwealth.
Strengthen the sense of duty in our political
life. Grant that the servants of the state
may feel ever more deeply that any diversion
of their public powers for private ends is
a betrayal of their coimtry. Purge our
cities and states and nation of the deep
causes of corruption which have so often
[75]
^fCl
m^,
w
made sin profitable and uprightness hard.
Bring to an end the stale days of party
cunning. Breathe a new spirit into all our _
nation. Lift us from the dust and mire of S*i
the past that we may gird ourselves for a
new day's work. Give our leaders a new
vision of the possible future of our country
and set their hearts on fire with large resolves.
Raise up a new generation of public men,
who will have the faith and daring of the
Kingdom of God in their hearts, and who
will enlist for life in a holy warfare for the
freedom and rights of the people.
FOR DOCTORS AND NURSES
E praise thee, O
God, for our friends,
the doctors and nurses,
who seek the healing of
our bodies. We bless
thee for their gentle-
ness and patience, for
their knowledge and
skill. We remember the hours of our
suffering when they brought relief, and the
days of our fear and anguish at the bedside
of our dear ones when they came as ministers
of God to save the life thou hadst given.
May we reward their fidelity and devotion
by our loving gratitude, and do thou uphold
them by the satisfaction of work well done.
We rejoice in the tireless daring with which
some are now tracking the great slayers of
mankind by the white light of science. Grant
that under their teaching we may grapple
with the sins which have ever dealt death
to the race, and that we may so order the
life of our communities that none may be
doomed to an untimely death for lack of
the simple gifts which thou hast given in
abundance. Make thou our doctors the
77 1
a
prophets and soldiers of thy kingdom, which
is the reign of cleanliness and self-restraint
and the dominion of health and joyous life.
Strengthen in their whole profession the
consciousness that their calling is holy and
that they, too, are disciples of the saving
Christ. May they never through the pressure
of need or ambition surrender the sense of
a divine mission and become hirelings who
serve only for money. Make them doubly
faithful in the service of the poor who need
their help most sorely, and may the children
of the workingman be as precious to them
as the child of the rich. Though they deal
with the frail body of man, may they have
an abiding sense of the eternal value of
the life residing in it, that by the call of
faith and hope they may summon to their
aid the mysterious spirit of man and the
powers of thy all-pervading life.
FOR WRITERS AND NEWSPAPER MEN
THOU great source of
truth and knowledge,
we remember before
thee all whose call-
ing it is to gather
and winnow the facts
for informing the peo-
ple. Inspire them with
for honest work and
making of lies,
our nation be per-
call light
Since the
their
a determined love
a stanch hatred for the
lest the judgments of
verted and we be taught to
darkness and darkness light.
sanity and wisdom of a nation are in
charge, may they count it shame to set the
baser passions of men on fire for the sake
of gain. May they never suffer themselves
to be used in drugging the mind of the
people with falsehood and prejudice.
Grant them boldness to turn the imwel-
come light on those who love the darkness
because their deeds are evil. Put into their
hands the shining sword of truth, and make
them worthy successors of the great cham-
pions of the people who held truth to be a
holy thing by which nations live and for
[79]
^p
which men should die. Cause them to real-
ize that they have a public function in the
commonwealth, and that their coimtry may
be saved by their courage or undone by
their cowardice and silence. Grant them
the heart of manhood to cast their mighty
influence with the forces that make the
people strong and free, and if they suffer
loss, may they rejoice in that as proof to
their ov/n souls that they have fought a
good fight and have been servants of the
higher law.
MINISTERS
JESUS, we thy min-
isters bow before thee
to confess the com-
mon sins of our call-
ing. Thou knowest all
things ; thou knowest
that we love thee and
that our hearts* desire
is to serve thee in f aithfuhiess ; and yet,
like Peter, we have so often failed thee
in the hour of thy need. If ever we have
loved our own leadership and power when
we sought to lead our people to thee, we
pray thee to forgive. If we have been
engrossed in narrow duties and Httle
questions, when the vast needs of humanity
called aloud for prophetic vision and apostolic
sympathy, we pray thee to forgive. If in
our loyalty to the Church of the past we
have distrusted thy living voice and have
suffered thee to pass from our door imheard,
we pray thee to forgive. If ever we have
been more concerned for the strong and the
rich than for the shepherdless throngs of
the people for whom thy soul grieved, we
pray thee to forgive.
[8il
O Master, amidst our failures we cast
ourselves upon thee in humility and con-
trition. We need new light and a new
message. We need the ancient spirit of
prophecy and the leaping fire and joy of a
new conviction, and thou alone canst give it.
Inspire the ministry of thy Church with
dauntless courage to face the vast needs of
the future. Free us from all entanglements
that have hushed our voice and boimd our
action. Grant us grace to look upon the
veiled sins of the rich and the coarse vices
of the poor through thine eyes. Give us
thine inflexible sternness against sin, and
thine inexhaustible compassion for the frailty
and tragedy of those who do the sin. Make
us faithful shepherds of thy flock, true seers
of God, and true followers of Jesus.
FOR TEACHERS
E implore thy bless-
ing, O God, on all the
V men and women who
teach the children and
youth of our nation,
for they are the potent
friends and helpers of
our homes. Into their
hands we daily commit the dearest that we
have, and as they make our children, so
shall future years see them. Grant them an
abiding consciousness that they are co-
workers with thee, thou great teacher of
humanity, and that thou hast charged them
with the holy duty of bringing forth from the
budding life of the young the mysterious
stores of character and ability which thou
hast hidden in them. Teach them to rever-
ence the young lives, clean and plastic, which
have newly come from thee, and to realize
that generations still unborn shall rue their
sloth or rise to higher levels through their
wisdom and faithfulness. Gird them for
their task with thy patience and tranquillity,
with a great fatherly and motherly love for
the yoimg, and with special tenderness for
8;
the backward and afflicted. Save them from
physical exhaustion, from loneliness and dis-
couragement, from the numbness of routine,
and from all bitterness of heart.
We bless thee for the free and noble spirit
that is breathing v;ith quickening power upon
the educational life of our day, and for the
men and women of large mind and loving
heart who have made that spirit our common
possession by their teaching and example.
But grant that a higher obedience and self-
restraint may grow in the new atmosphere
of freedom. We remember with gratitude
to thee the godly teachers of our own youth
who won our hearts to higher purposes by
the sacred contagion of their life. May the
strength and beauty of Christ-like service
still be plainly wrought in the lives of their
successors, that our children may not want
for strong models of devout manhood on
w^hom their characters can be molded.
Do thou rev/ard thy servants with a glad
sense of their ov/n eternal v/crth as teachers
of the race, and in the heat of the day do thou
show them the spring by the wayside that
flows from the eternal silence of God and gives
new light to the eyes of all who drink of it.
FOR ALL MOTHERS
GOD, we offer thee
praise and benediction
for the sweet minis- fe^
tries of motherhood in
human life. We bless
thee for our own dear
mothers who built up
our lives by theirs;
who bore us in travail and loved us the
more for the pain we gave; who nourished
us at their breast and hushed us to sleep in
the warm security of their arms. We thank
thee for their tireless love, for their voiceless
prayers, for the agony with which they fol-
lowed us through our sins and won us back,
for the Christly power of sacrifice and redemp-
tion in mother-love. We pray thee to forgive
us if in thoughtless selfishness we have taken
their love as our due without giving the
tenderness which they craved as their sole
reward. And if the great treasure of a
mother's life is still spared to us, may we do
for her feebleness what she did for ours.
We remember before thee all the good
women who are now bearing the pain andr^
weariness of maternity. Grant them strength
of body and mind for their new tasks. Widen
8s]
'^Jg^
'!:%-
s*
&R
their vision that they may see themselves,
not as the mothers of one child alone, but
as the patriot women of their nation, who
alone can build up the better future with
fresh and purer life. Put upon the girls of
our people the awe of their future calling,
that they may preserve their bodies and minds
in purity and strength for the holy task to
which the future may summon them.
Bestow thy special grace, we beseech
thee, on all women who have the yearnings
of motherhold, but whose lives are barren
of its joys. If any form of human sin
has robbed them of the prize of life, grant
them righteous anger and valiant hearts to
fight that sin on behalf of those who come
after them. Help them to overcome the bit-
terness of disappointment, and to find an
outlet for their thwarted mother-love in the
wider ministrations to all the lonely and un-
mothered hearts in thy great family on earth.
As the protecting love of motherhood
wrought blindly in the earliest upward
climb of life, may it now, with open eyes
and strong with Christly passion, set its
tireless strength to lift humanity from the
reign of brutal force and to foimd the larger
family of men on the blessed might ot love.
86
m
g^^
A]
FOR ALL TRUE LOVERS
E invoke thy gentlest
blessings, our Father,
on all true lovers. We
praise thee for the great
longing that draws the
-P-^^T^-^^^I soul of man and maid
J^ Jft^fltJi *^Sether and bids them
leave all the dear bonds
of the past to cleave to one another.
We thank thee for the revealing power of
love which divines in the one beloved the
mystic beauty and glory of humanity. We
thank thee for the transfiguring power of
love which ripens and ennobles our nature,
calling forth the hidden stores of tenderness
and strength and overcoming the selfish-
ness of youth by the passion of self-sur-
render.
We pray thee to make their love strong,
holy, and deathless, that no misxmderstand-
ings may fray the bond, and no gray disen-
chantment of the years may have power to
quench the heavenly light that now glows in
them. May they early gain wisdom to dis-
cern the true values of life, and may no
tyranny of fashion and no glamour of cheaper
[87]
^
^4sJP^
i^^
joys filch from them the wholesome peace
and inward satisfaction which only loyal love
can give.
Grant them with sober eyes to look beyond
these sweet days of friendship to the genera-
tions yet to come, and to realize that the home
for which they long will be part of the sacred
tissue of the body of humanity in which
thou art to dwell, that so they may reverence
themselves and drink the cup of joy with
awe.
88
^rMo^
FOR THE IDLE
GOD, we remember
with pain and pity
the thousands of our
brothers and sisters
v^ho seek honest work
and seek in vain. For
though the unsatisfied
v.ants of men are many,
and though our land is wide and calls for
labor, yet these thy sons and daughters
have no place to labor, and are turned
away in humiliation and despair when they
seek it. O righteous God, we acknowledge
our common guilt for the disorder of our
industry which thrusts even willing workers
into the degradation of idleness and want,
and teaches som^e to love the sloth which
once they feared and hated.
We remember also v/ith sorrow and
compassion the idle rich, who have vigor of
body and mind and yet produce no useful
thing. Forgive them for loading the burden
of their support on the bent shoulders of
the working world. Forgive them for v/asting
in refined excess what would feed the pale
children of the poor. Forgive them for
[89]
m
setting their poisoned splendor before the
thirsty hearts of the young, luring them to
theft or shame by the lust of eye and flesh.
Forgive them for takmg pride in their work-
less lives and despising those by whose
toil they live. Forgive them for appeasing
their better self by pretended duties and
injurious charities. We beseech thee to
awaken them by the new voice of thy Spirit
that they may look up into the stem eyes
of thy Christ and may be smitten with the
blessed pangs of repentance. Grant them
strength of soul to rise from their silken shame
and to give their brothers a just return of
labor for the bread they eat. And to our
whole nation do thou grant wisdom to create
a world in which none shall be forced to idle
in want, and none shall be able to idle in
luxury, but in which all shall know the
health of wholesome work and the sweetness
of well-earned rest.
[90]
MORITURI TE SALUTANT
THOU Eternal One, we
who are doomed to
die lift up our souls
to thee for strength,
for Death has passed
us in the throng of
men and touched us,
and we know that at
some turn of our pathway he stands waiting
to take us by the hand and lead us — we
know not whither. We praise thee that to
us he is no more an enemy but thy great
angel and our friend, who alone can open
for some of us the prison-house of pain and
misery and set our feet in the roomy spaces
of a larger life. Yet we are but children,
afraid of the dark and the imknown, and we
dread the parting from the life that is so
sweet and from the loved ones who are so
dear.
Grant us of thy mercy a valiant heart,
that we may tread the road with head uplifted
and a smiling face. May we do our work
to the last with a wholesome joy, and love
our loves with an added tenderness because
the days of love are short. On thee we
[91
cast the heaviest burden that numbs our
soul, the gnawing fear for those we love,
whom we must leave unsheltered in a self-
ish world. We trust in thee, for through
all our years thou hast been our stay. O
thou Father of the fatherless, put thy arm
about our little ones! And ere we go, we
pray that the days may come when the dying
may die tmafraid, because men have ceased
to prey on the weak, and the great family of
the nation enfolds all with its strength and
care.
We thank thee that we have tasted the
rich life of humanity. We bless thee for
every hour of life, for all our share in the
joys and strivings of our brothers, for the
wisdom gained which will be part of us
forever. If soon we must go, yet through
thee we have lived and our life flows on in
the race. By thy grace we too have helped
to shape the futiu-e and bring in the better
day.
If our spirit droops in loneliness, uphold
us by thy companionship. When all the
voices of love grow faint and drift away,
thy everlasting arms will still be there.
Thou art the father of our spirits; from thee
(92]
tk^^
57 7^ ^S^>
\^f^
we have come; to thee we go. We rejoice
that in the hours of our purer vision, when
the pulse-throb of thine eternity is strong
within us, we know that no pang of mortality
can reach our unconquerable soul, and that
for those who abide in thee death is but
the gateway to life eternal. Into thy hands
we commend our spirit.
m
^^
93
LORD, since first the
blood of Abel cried to
thee from the ground
that drank it, this earth
of thine has been de-
filed with the blood of
man shed by his broth-
er's hand, and the cen-
turies sob with the ceaseless horror of
war. Ever the pride of kings and the cov-
etousness of the strong has driven peace-
ful nations to slaughter. Ever the songs
of the past and the pomp of armies have
been used to inflame the passions of the
people. Our spirit cries out to thee in
revolt against it, and we know that our
righteous anger is answered by thy holy
wrath.
Break thou the spell of the enchantments
that make the nations drunk with the lust
of battle and draw them on as willing tools
of death. Grant us a quiet and steadfast
mind when our own nation clamors for
vengeance or aggression. Strengthen our
sense of justice and our regard for the equal
worth of other peoples and races. Grant
[97]
^I^^^S^SSE^
«'-^^.
to the rulers of nations faith in the possi-
bility of peace through justice, and grant
to the common people a new and stem
enthusiasm for the cause of peace. Bless
our soldiers and sailors for their swift obe-
dience and their willingness to answer to
the call of duty, but inspire them none
the less with a hatred of war, and may they
never for love of private glory or advance-
ment provoke its coming. May our young
men still rejoice to die for their country
with the valor of their fathers, but teach our
age nobler methods of matching our strength
and more effective ways of giving our life
for the flag.
O thou strong Father of all nations, draw
all thy great family together with an increas-
ing sense of our common blood and destiny,
that peace may come on earth at last, and
thy sun may shed its light rejoicing on a
holy brotherhood of peoples.
98
if
AGAINST ALCOHOLISM
LORD, we praise thy
holy name, for thou
hast made bare thine
arm in the sight of
all nations and done
wonders. But still we
cry to thee in the weary
struggle of our people
against the power of drink. Remember,
Lord, the strong men who were led astray
and blighted in the flower of their youth.
Remember the aged who have brought their
gray hairs to a dishonored grave. Remem-
ber the homes that have been made desolate
of joy, the wifely love that has been out-
raged in its sanctuary, the Uttle children
who have learned to despise where once they
loved. Remember, O thou great avenger of
sin, and make this nation to remember. ^
May those who now entrap the feet of the
weak and make their living by the degrada-
tion of men, thrust away their shameful
gains and stand clear. But if their conscience
is silenced by profit, do thou grant thy people
the indomitable strength of faith to make
an end of it. May all the great churches of
99]
our land shake off those who seek the shelter
of religion for that which damns, and stand
with level front against their common foe.
May all who still soothe their souls with
half-truths, saying "Peace, peace," where
there can be no peace, learn to see through
thy stem eyes and come to the help of
Jehovah against the mighty. Help us to
cast down the men in high places who use
the people's powers to beat back the people's
hands from the wrong they fain would crush.
O God, bring nigh the day when all our
men shall face their daily task with minds
undrugged and with tempered passions;
when the unseemly mirth of drink shall seem
a shame to all who hear and see; when the
trade that debauches men shall be loathed
like the trade that debauches women; and
when all this black remnant of savagery shall
haimt the memory of a new generation but
as an evil dream of the night. For this
accept our vows, O Lord, and grant thine
aid.
AGAINST THE SERVANTS OF MAMMON ;
E cry to thee for jus- i
tice, O Lord, for our ^
I j soul is weary with the
iniquity of greed. Be-
hold the servants of
Mammon, who defy
thee and drain their
fellow-men for gain;
who grind down the strength of the work-
ers by merciless toil and filing them
aside when they are mangled and worn;
who rackrent the poor and make dear the
space and air which thou hast made free;
who paralyze the hand of justice by corruption
and blind the eyes of the people by lies;
who nullify by their craft the merciful laws
which nobler men have devised for the
protection of the weak; who have made us
ashamed of our dear country by their defile-
ments and have turned our holy freedom into
a hollow name; who have brought upon
thy Church the contempt of men and have
cloaked their extortion with the Gospel of
thy Christ.
For the oppression of the poor and the
sighing of the needy now do thou arise,
lOI
^^
m^^^^^
'^m^,
O Lord; for because thou art love, and tender
as a mother to the weak, therefore thou art
the great hater of miquity and thy doom is
upon those who grow rich on the poverty of
the people.
O God, we are afraid, for the thunder-
cloud of thy wrath is even now black above
us. In the ruins of dead empires we have
read how thou hast trodden the wine-press
of thine anger when the measure of their
sin was full. We are sick at heart when we
remember that by the greed of those who
enslaved a v/eaker race that curse was
fastened upon us all which still lies black and
hopeless across our land, though the blood
of a nation was spilled to atone. Save our
people from being dragged down into vaster
guilt and woe by men who have no vision and
know no law except their lust. Shake their
souls with awe of thee that they may cease.
Help us with clean hands to tear the web
which they have woven about us and to
turn our people back to thy law, lest the mark
of the beast stand out on the right hand and
forehead of our nation and our feet be set
on the downward path of darkness from which
there is no return forever.
[102]
im
AGAINST IMPURITY
THOU whose light is
about me and within
me and to whom all
things are present, \\
help me this day to <
keep my Hfe pure in \
thy sight. Suffer me |
not by any lawless act I
of mine to befoul any innocent life or add to I
the shame and hopelessness of any erring |
one that struggles faintly against sin. Grant j
me a steadfast scorn for pleasure bought by ^l
human degradation. May no reckless word
or wanton look from me kindle the slow
fires of wayward passion that will char and
consume the divine beauties of any soul. |l
Give me grace to watch over the imaginations
of my heart, lest in the unknown hour of
my weakness my secret thoughts leap into
action and my honor be turned into shame.
If my friends trust me with their loved ones,
save me from betraying their trust and from
slaying the peace of a home. If any dear
heart has staked its Ufe and hopes on my
love and loyalty, I beseech thee that its joy
and strength may never wither through my
[103]
forgetfulness or guilt. O God, make me
pure and a helper to the weak. Grant that
even the sins of my past may yield me added
wisdom and tenderness to help those who
are tempted.
Save our nation from the corruption that
breeds corruption. Save our innocent sons
and daughters from the secret curse that re-
quites the touch of love with lingering death.
O Jesus, thou master of all who are both
strong and pure, take our weak and passion-
ate hearts under thy control, that when the
dusk settles upon our life, we may go to our
long rest with no pang of shame, and may
enter into the blessedness of seeing God,
which thou hast promised only to the pure
in heart.
104]
^^lauM^
FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD
CHRIST, thou hast bid-
den us pray for the
coming of thy Father's
kingdom, in which his
righteous will shall be
done on earth. We have
treasured thy words,
but we have forgotten
their meaning, and thy great hope has grown
dim in thy Church. We bless thee for the
inspired souls of all ages who saw afar the
shining city of God, and by faith left the profit
of the present to follow their vision. We
rejoice that to-day the hope of these lonely
hearts is becoming the clear faith of millions.
Help us, O Lord, in the courage of faith to
seize what has now come so near, that the
glad day of God may dawn at last. As we
have mastered Nature that we might gain
wealth, help us now to master the social
relations of mankind that we may gain jus-
tice and a world of brothers. For what shall
it profit our nation if it gain numbers and
riches, and lose the sense of the living God
and the joy of human brotherhood?
Make us determined to live by truth and
[107]
^#
not by lies, to foimd our common life on
the eternal foundations of righteousness
and love, and no longer to prop the tottering
house of wrong by legalized cruelty and
force. Help us to make the welfare of all
the supreme law of our land, that so our
commonwealth may be built strong and
secure on the love of all its citizens. Cast
down the throne of Mammon who ever grinds
the life of men, and set up thy throne, O
Christ, for thou didst die that men might
live. Show thy erring children at last the
way from the City of Destruction to the City of
Love, and fulfil the longings of the prophets
of humanity. Our Master, once more we
make thy faith our prayer: *'Thy kingdom
come! Thy will be done on earth! "
1
s
THOSE WHO COME AFTER US
GOD, we pray thee
for those who come
after us, for our chil-
dren, and the chil-
dren of our friends,
and for all the young
lives that are march-
ing up from the gates
of birth, pure and eager, with the morning
simshine on their faces. We remember
with a pang that these will live in the world
we are making for them. We are wasting
the resources of the earth in our headlong
greed, and they will suffer want. We are
building sunless houses and joyless cities
for our profit, and they must dwell therein.
We are making the burden heavy and the
pace of work pitiless, and they will fall wan
and sobbing by the wayside. We are poi-
soning the air of our land by our lies and
our uncleanness, and they will breathe it.
O God, thou knowest how we have cried
out in agony when the sins of our fathers have
been visited upon us, and how we have
struggled vainly against the inexorable fate
that coursed in our blood or boimd us in a
[109]
Hi
prison-house of life. Save us from maiming
the innocent ones who come after us by the
added cruelty of our sins. Help us to
break the ancient force of evil by a holy and
steadfast will and to endow our children
with purer blood and nobler thoughts.
Grant us grace to leave the earth fairer
than we foimd it; to build upon it cities of
God in which the cry of needless pain shall
cease; and to put the yoke of Christ upon
our business life that it may serve and not
destroy. Lift the veil of the future and show
us the generation to come as it will be if
blighted by our guilt, that our lust may be
cooled and we may walk in the fear of the
Eternal. Grant us a vision of the far-off
years as they may be if redeemed by the
sons of God, that we may take heart and do
battle for thy children and ours.
A>
^
y
ON THE HARM WE HAVE DONE
UR Father, we look
back on the years that
are gone and shame
and sorrow come upon
us, for the harm we
have done to others
rises up in our mem-
ory to accuse us. Some
we have seared v/ith the fire of our lust,
and some we have scorched by the heat of
our anger. In some we helped to quench
the glow of young ideals by our selfish pride
and craft, and in some we have nipped the
opening bloom of faith by the frost of our
imbelief.
We might have followed thy blessed
footsteps, O Christ, binding up the bruised
hearts of our brothers and guiding the way-
ward passions of the yoimg to firmer man-
hood. Instead, there are poor hearts now
broken and darkened because they encoun-
tered us on the way, and some perhaps
remember us only as the beginning of their
misery or sin.
O God, we know that all our prayers can
%
m
can wash out the red marks with which we
have scarred some life that stands before
our memory with accusing eyes. Grant
that at least a humble and pure life may
grow out of our late contrition, that in the
brief days still left to us we may comfort
and heal where we have scorned and crushed.
Change us by the power of thy saving grace
from sources of evil into forces for good,
that with all our strength we may fight the
wrongs we have aided, and aid the right we
IJ have clogged. Grant us this boon, that for
every harm we have done, we may do some
brave act of salvation, and that for every
soul that has stumbled or fallen through us,
we may bring to thee some other weak or
despairing one, whose strength has been
renewed by our love, that so the face of thy
Christ may smile upon us and the light within
us may shine imdimmed.
1 112]
^^^^^^^
PROPHETS AND PIONEERS
^rrr^ff^ E praise thee, Almighty
SL&^^lMjt t^^ prophets and mar-
W»w_; /Ji ^yj.g ^j humanity, who
gave their thoughts and
prayers and agonies for
the truth of God and
the freedom of the peo-
ple. We praise thee that amid loneliness
and the contempt of men, in poverty and
imprisonment, when they were condemned
by the laws of the mighty and buffeted on
the scaffold, thou didst uphold them by thy
spirit in loyalty to thy holy cause.
Our hearts bum within us as we follow
the bleeding feet of thy Christ down the
centuries, and count the mounts of anguish
on which he was crucified anew in his prophets
and the true apostles of his spirit. Help
us to forgive those who did it, for some truly
thought they were serving thee when they
suppressed thy light, but oh, save us from
the same mistake! Grant us an unerring
instinct for what is right and true, and a
swift sympathy to divine those who truly
love and serve ihe people. Suffer us not
I "3 J
J^^SSBS^^
[^t:=lA^oJLtSVV-
by thoughtless condemnation or selfish oppo-
sition to weaken the arm and chill the spirit
of those who strive for the redemption of
mankind. May we never bring upon us
the blood of all the righteous by renewing
the spirit of those who persecuted them in the
past. Grant us rather that we, too, may be
counted in the chosen band of these who
have given their life as a ransom for the
m.any. Send us forth with the pathfinders
of humanity to lead thy people another day^s
march toward the land of promise.
And if we, too, must suffer loss, and drink
of the bitter pool of misunderstanding and
scorn, uphold us by thy spirit in steadfastness
and joy because we are found worthy to
share in the work and the reward of Jesus
and all the saints.
["4I
THOSE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE
THOU Eternal One,
we adore thee who in
all ages hast been the
great companion and
teacher of mankind ; for
thou hast lifted our
race from the depths,
and hast made us to
share in thy conscious intelligence and
thy will that makes for righteousness and
love. Thou alone art our Redeemer, for
thy lifting arms were about us and thy
persistent voice was in our hearts as we
slowly climbed up from savage darkness and
cruelty. Thou knowest how often we have
resisted thee and loved the easy ways of
sin rather than the toilsome gain of self-
control and the divine irritation of thy truth.
O God, visit not upon us the guilt of the
past, for our fathers have slain thy prophets.
They silenced the voices that spoke thine
onward thought, and generations have per-
ished in soddenness and misery because
the strong once quenched the light of truth.
Do thou free humanity at last from the
blood-rusted chains with which the past still
[115]
binds us. Multiply the God-conquered souls
who open their hearts gladly to the light
that makes us free, for all creation shall be
in travail till these sons of God attain their
glory.
We pray thee for those who amid all the
knowledge of our day are still without knowl-
edge; for those who hear not the sighs of
the children that toil, nor the sobs of such
as are wounded because others have made
haste to be rich; for those who have never
felt the hot tears of the mothers of the poor
that struggle vainly against poverty and
vice. Arouse them, we beseech thee, from
their selfish comfort and grant them the grace
of social repentance. Smite us all with
the conviction that for us ignorance is sin,
and that we are indeed our brother's keeper
if our own hand has helped to lay him low.
Though increase of knowledge bring increase
of sorrow, may we turn without flinching
to the light and offer ourselves as instruments
of thy spirit in bringing order and beauty
out of disorder and darkness.
^**
[ii6]
<d^T55^
FOR A SHARE
REDEMPTION
IN THE WORK OF
m
GOD, thou great Re-
deemer of mankind, our
hearts are tender in
the thought of thee,
for in all the afiiic-
tions of our race thou
hast been afflicted,
and in the sufferings
of thy people it was thy body that was
crucified. Thou hast been wounded by
our transgressions and bruised by our
iniquities, and all our sins are laid at last on
thee. Amid the groaning of creation we
behold thy spirit in travail till the sons of
God shall be bom in freedom and holiness.
We pray thee, O Lord, for the graces of
a pure and holy life that we may no longer
add to the dark weight of the world's sin
that is laid upon thee, but may share with
thee in thy redemptive work. As we have
thirsted with evil passions to the destruction
of men, do thou fill us now with himger and
thirst for justice that we may bear glad
tidings to the poor and set at liberty all who
are in the prison-house of want and sin.
[117I
Lay thy spirit upon us and inspire us with a
passion of Christ-like love that we may join
our lives to the weak and oppressed and
may strengthen their cause by bearing their
sorrows. And if the evil that is threatened
turns to smite us and if we must leam the
dark malignity of sinful power, comfort
us by the thought that thus we are bearing
in our body the marks of Jesus, and that
only those who share in his free sacrifice
shall feel the plenitude of thy life. Help
us in patience to carry forward the eternal
cross of thy Christ, coimting it joy if we, too,
are sown as grains of wheat in the furrows
of the world, for only by the agony of the
righteous comes redemption.
iSA^^
rr^fi
'>C^<
FOR THE CHURCH
GOD, we pray for thy
Church, which is set
to-day amid the per-
plexities of a changing
order, and face to face
with a great new task.
We remember with love
the nurture she gave
to our spiritual life in its infancy, the tasks
she set for our growing strength, the influ-
ence of the devoted hearts she gathers, the
steadfast power for good she has exerted.
V/hen we compare her with all other human
institutions, we rejoice, for there is none
like her. But when we judge her by the
mind of her Master, we bow in pity and con-
trition. Oh, baptize her afresh in the life-
giving spirit of Jesus! Grant her a new
birth, though it be with the travail of repent-
ance and humiliation. Bestow upon her
a more imperious responsiveness to duty, a
swifter compassion with suffering, and an
utter loyalty to the will of God. Put upon
her lips the ancient gospel of her Lord. Help
her to proclaim boldly the coming of the
Kingdom of God and the doom of all that
119]
resist it. Fill her with the prophets' scorn
of tyranny, and with a Christ-like tenderness
for the heavy-laden and dov/n-trodden. Give
her faith to espouse the cause of the people,
and in their hands that grope after freedom
and light to recognize the bleeding hands
of the Christ. Bid her cease from seeking
her own life, lest she lose it. Make her
vaUant to give up her life to humanity, that
like her crucified Lord she may mount by
the path of the cross to a higher glory.
[120]
FOR OUR CITY
GOD, we pray thee
for this, the city of
our love and pride.
We rejoice in her spa-
cious beauty and her
busy ways of commerce,
in her stores and facto-
ries where hand joins
hand in toil, and in her blessed homes where
heart joins heart for rest and love.
Help us to make our city the mighty
common workshop of our people, where
every one will find his place and task, in
daily achievement building up his own life
to resolute manhood, keen to do his best with
hand and mind. Help us to make our city
the greater home of our people, where all
may live their lives in comfort, unafraid,
loving their loves in peace and rounding out
their years in strength.
Bind our citizens, not by the bond of money
and of profit alone, but by the glow of neigh-
borly good-will, by the thrill of common
joys, and the pride of common possessions.
As we set the greater aims for the future
of our city, may we ever remember that
[ 121 ]
ifTS^^s^Q^^^^A'
her true wealth and greatness consist, not
in the abundance of the things we possess,
but in the justice of her institutions and the
brotherhood of her children. Make her
rich in her sons and daughters and famous
through the lofty passions that inspire
them.
We thank thee for the patriot men and
women of the past whose generous devotion
to the common good has been the making of
our city. Grant that our own generation
may build worthily on the foundation they
have laid. If in the past there have been
some who have sold the city's good for private
gain, staining her honor by their cunning
and greed, fill us, we beseech thee, with the
righteous anger of true sons that we may
purge out the shame lest it taint the future
years.
Grant us a vision of our city, fair as she
might be : a city of justice, where none shall
prey on others; a city of plenty, where vice
and poverty shall cease to fester; a city
of brotherhood, where all success shall be
founded on service, and honor shall be given
to nobleness alone; a city of peace, where
order shall not rest on force, but on the love
122]
of all for the city, the great mother <A the
common life and weal. Hear thou, O Lord,
the silent prayer of all our hearts as we each
{dedge our time and strength and thought to
speed the day of her coming beauty and
righteousness.
S^Of.'t
mm
FOR THE COOPERATIVE
COMMONWEALTH
GOD, we praise thee
for the dream of the
golden city of peace
and righteousness
which has ever haunted
the prophets of human-
ity, and we rejoice with
joy unspeakable that at
last the people have conquered the freedom
and knowledge and power which may avail
to turn into reality the vision that so long has
beckoned in vain.
Speed now the day when the plains and
the hills and the wealth thereof shall be the
people^s own, and thy freemen shall not
live as tenants of men on the earth which
thou hast given to all; when no babe shall be
bom without its equal birthright in the riches
and knowledge wrought out by the labor of
the ages; and when the mighty engines of
industry shall throb with a gladder music
because the men who ply these great tools
shall be their owners and masters.
Bring to an end, O Lord, the inhumanity
of the present, in which all men are ridden
^J^J
by the pale fear of want while the nation of
which they are citizens sits throned amid the
wealth of their making; when the manhood
in some is cowed by helplessness, while the
soul of others is surfeited and sick with
power which no frail son of the dust should
wield.
O God, save us, for our nation is at strife
with its own soul and is sinning against the
light which thou aforetime hast kindled in it.
Thou hast called our people to freedom,
but we are withholding from men their
share in the common heritage without which
freedom becomes a hollow name. Thy
Christ has kindled in us the passion for
brotherhood, but the social life we have
built, denies and slays brotherhood.
We pray thee to revive in us the hardy
spirit of our forefathers that we may establish
and complete their work, building on the
basis of their democracy the firm edifice of a
cooperative commonwealth, in which both
government and industry shall be of the
people, by the people, and for the people.
May we, who now live, see the oncoming of
the great day of God, when all men shall
stand side by side in equal worth and real
125]
freedom, all toiling and all reaping, masters
of nature but brothers of men, exultant in
the tide of the common life, and jubilant in
the adoration of Thee, the source of their
blessings and the Father of all.
THE AUTHOR'S PRAYER
O Thou who art the light of my soul, I thank Thee for
the mcomparable joy of listening to thy voice within,
and I know that no word of thine shall return void,
however brokenly uttered. If aught in this book was
said through lack of knowledge, or through weakness
of faith in Thee or of love for men, I pray Thee to over-
rule my sin and turn aside its force before it harm thy
cause. Pardon the frailty of thy servant, and look
upon him only as he sinks his life in Jesus, his Master
and Saviour. Amen.
